A manufacturer and dealer of the manufacturer's goods typically work together to ensure that the dealer has correct information about the manufacturer's products. For example, when a product is updated or changed, the manufacturer often sends the product information to the dealer. This information is frequently sent in hard copy form, with a piece of paper containing either a list of the product modifications or an entirely new product specification sheet. In response, the dealer will typically add the new information into the dealer's own advertising literature.
The foregoing process is fraught with inefficiency and potential for errors. It is inefficient because personnel must first transcribe the new product information and then integrate it into the dealer's advertising literature. During the transcription process, typographical errors may creep into the dealer's advertising literature.
Although product information may be sent in electronic form by disk or email to facilitate the dealer's use of the information, that alone is not enough to cure the inefficiencies associated with the foregoing process. While it may eliminate the need to transcribe the information, it does not eliminate the time and expense of integrating the information into the dealer's product literature. The inefficiency is compounded by the fact that many dealers are all go through the same process of modifying their product literature.
In addition, once the product information is electronically received by the dealers, there is no way for the manufacturer to track whether the information was used, and if so how often it was used and whether it was used correctly. Without such tracking data, manufacturers are limited in their ability to provide accurate and efficient product information or updates to that information.